Today while meeting some recent guests who visited Tapestry (I try to take everybody who visits Tapestry out for coffee and a conversation) I realized that I have a bit of fascination with what architecture says about our culture and priorities. I have three examples that I use pretty often.
- Church worship arrangement reflecting the priorities of a church. I think I stole this from Dr. David Kirkpatrick my favorite theology professor at SWBTS. How the room is setup shows what is most important to a congregation.
- The tallest building in town reflecting the priority of a culture. At one time a church was usually the tallest building in town, then it was a government building that was most likely the tallest building in town, and now it is most likely a business that has the tallest building in town. I’m not sure where I originally heard this so I can’t give credit to who it is properly due.
- The place of graveyards reflecting our society’s fear of death. If you look at historic graveyards they are typically in the center of town by the church, versus the continually segregating of death further and further away from the living reflected now. This came from Jürgen Moltmann.
They are three of my favorite story/illustrations and I use them a ton. I need to do some more reading concerning architecture and a society’s priorities.